A few days ago I found myself in a situation where I was considering leaving the aircraft after reaching my seat. You see, I am a tall person (6'4") and I usually fit seats in economy just ok (meaning they are not comfortable but I can manage a few hours).

However this time I tried an airline that I had never used before and after sitting on my seat I found the seat pitch and the seat design together so bad that it was actually painful right from the start. On top of that staff forced me to take my hand luggage under the seat in front of me leaving me in an extremely difficult situation with zero ability to move my feet. Of course this was something I didn't expect - otherwise I had never booked this airline or at least I would have tried to secure an exit row seat when booking or checking in.

I decided to stay on board and that became the longest and most painful 5 hours on board ever. I then started to think what is the procedure if a passenger decides to disembark during the boarding? Any consequences for the passenger? For security reasons the airline would most likely load checked bags off and that would possibly delay the flight. Could they apply any fees for the passenger? If one would be concerned about his/her health would that be a good enough reason to leave the aircraft?

I'm usually flying in Europe and Asia if that matters.. Any insights welcome though.